Remember the magic
by Wolphie
Summary: Rhen chose the dark side and now is slowly losing herself. Everyone is running away from enslavement in this new dark version of the world and little to nobody holds hope for salvation anymore. Not even the retired heroes. "Magic written with dragon scales"/"A guardian is never guarded" sequel. It's finally coming.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

" _This is to_ _those who lost their lives in this millennial war. This is also to those who did not lose their lives but will, most certainly._

 _Dear world of Aia,_

 _It is me, the one who destroyed you. The one who took away the colour from your lands. The one who enslaved your people and the one who killed them slowly. I have made a poor decision; I just wanted to save my friends._

 _Even now I can remember the moment I said "do it" and how my throat shivered, breaking my voice. I thought I was doing the right thing. But there was no right thing to do. I chose the selfish option, I chose to set my friends free and live my life as a royal slave in this stone castle underground. You may think I have it easy, living in ignorance of what is happening into the world, that the minions do all my bidding and that being called something followed by "the demon of destruction" is a great way to live life,_ _ **do you not, YOU INSOLENT AND LIMITED MORTA ?!...**_ _"_

The heavy drips of black ink stained the paper. The last words were mostly incoherent scribbles, almost stabbing the paper with anger. A hand stopped shivering and picked up the dark quill again.

 _"…I DO know what is going on in the world._

 _It has been one year. I am starting to forget my real name. I don't need so much sleep anymore so I am left with much more time to battle for my own sanity. I am forgetting myself. I have my real name plastered in notes all around my room, hidden in places for me to stumble upon them and remember._

 _I have very little hope left. I am desperate. I don't know who will get this. But I hope it gets into the hands of someone who knows what's happening. I cannot say anything more. Please…_

 _Kelloth, the demon of  
Rhen Darzon"_

Rhen set the quill down and didn't even bother proofreading her letter. She didn't have time for that. Still trembling, she rolled the paper and slid it into a tube, screwing a lid on top. She then hurried outside of her room, down the dark halls.

Into the throne room, she peeked from behind a wall. Only two neeveranes and their guiding oolguns, guarding. She didn't even enter the room but tossed the tube into the closest one of the two small ponds. Just as the tube was about to hit the surface, the water swallowed the message elegantly. One of the guarding minions flinched and looked at the soft ripples. But Rhen was already gone, running up the stairs.


	2. One

**One  
** _There is always life after death_

It was morning once again. Soft pale grey sunlight would enter the room through the window at the exact same angle, every day. It would hit the scattered, yellow papers and book stacks on the floor. It would also hit the clutter of potion bottles on the narrow table, more or less filled with translucent liquids, creating an assortment of colourful reflections on the otherwise colourless walls.

It was all a routine. The arm swatted at the sunlight clumsily, shielding the eyes. He hated mornings. In his torment, he woke up, brushed his callous palm against his face and hair and got out of bed sighing. He went to the bathroom and filled himself a container of cold, foggy water and dipped his head inside it. As he raised his gaze to the mirror with the water gently dripping off his green locks and along his features, Lars eyed himself in a cautious manner. He looked tired, almost exhausted. His face was thinner and his skin paler. He tried to find some determination in himself, he tried so hard.

And he thought he did, when he found a weak hint of an idea. That was absolutely enough for him. Ghalarah was rotten. It has been about one month since he last travelled. Thirty days too much. Travelling was the last thing that kept him sane, it reminded him of the times when Rhen and the others would… He dropped the towel.

Rhen.  
Even after one year of not seeing her, the thought of her made him stop in his tracks. He felt a void in his chest. _Rhen._ She was still his comfort memory. He became soft. The effect she always had on him. _He had to find her._ **NO.** She was no more. Rhen is gone. She is dead. She is now Kelloth, a demon.

Lars frowned hard and felt the saltiness build up in his eyes. _Rhen is dead.  
_ He remembered his vow against the practice of necromancy and repeated it all over again, in his mind and out loud. He needed to get out of that trance.

"What is dead should stay dead. What is dead should stay dead…"  
He kept saying it, like a prayer, banishing any thoughts from his mind. He fumbled around his belongings, cherry-picking potion bottles from the table and placing them carefully in his travel bag, next to rolls of papers and a couple of books.

"What is dead should stay dead."

He got dressed with clean clothes, placed some extras in the bag. He grabbed a potion bottle and popped the cork.

"What is dead…" Gulp. "…should stay dead." He left his room, leaving the cyan potion bottle opened.

"Lars? You are leaving again?" His mother inquired, her heart dropping as she saw him.

"Yes."

"Son…" She was going to go at it again. "Be careful."

Lars looked at her for the first time, taken by surprise. She was holding back tears. No matter how cruel and selfish she used to be, she was still a mother, a parent. Lars walked to her and hugged her gently.

"I will be back, better than how I leave. _I promise._ " He let go and left the house before his mother could burst into tears. She was the only reason he spent so much time in Ghalarah, after all. He left his house with his heart in his throat, more or less.

Lars walked down the main path in the town, alert to not attract any attention to himself. The soil was dry and his footsteps synced with his heartbeat as he treaded cautiously. He saw in the distance a group of four slaves pulling a heavy wooden chariot filled with some strange kind of grain, followed by two guards.

Lars' throat knotted but he kept a straight face. He knew those guards weren't humans. No guards were really human anymore, they were corrupted bodies, vessels for Ahriman's minions. They wouldn't be a bother, would they not be accustomed to his face since he spent most of his time here. One of the slaves stumbled over and fell to the ground with a grunt. The guards noticed the chariot stop and hurried over to the incapable slave. They started making indistinct, disabled screeches, yelling and growling at the fallen slave, pulling out their whips and starting to lash the living hell out of the poor boy. Lars walked by, almost tasting his own heartbeat.

When he reached the gate, a corrupted guard was watching him approach. He made an inarticulate groan, demanding information. Lars knew it was really hard to travel now, almost everything was being watched. _Almost everything._

"Veldarah" Lars said, loudly, as if talking to a disabled person.  
The guard seemed to soften when it heard the name of a city on the same continent they were on. It kept its hand out, awaiting the bag for inspection. Fumbling around the bag, it broke one of Lars' potions as he heard a shatter sound. Lars rolled his eyes.  
"Mh" The guard groaned and handed Lars' bag back, letting him leave.

He had to stop on the way, in a secluded area in the woods and go feed Rampadel, his Teyhor dragon. He spent about an hour with the scaled beast, talking to him and checking his previously broken wing. The reptile enjoyed the attention and Lars found it relaxing, it reminded him…  
"What is dead should stay dead." He blocked the thought immediately.

Leaving the dragon some wild chicken he hunted on the way there, Lars headed for Veldarah. He was surprised Rampadel survived the infection he got from the broken wing. The healing process was indeed slow, as it took him months upon months, but he got strong again and he would fly away and return to their secret meeting point as he pleased. Lars was still reluctant to fly on the dragon, mostly because he might be spotted by minions. However, it was his only option to get across the sea, since all ports were unofficially locked and accessible only under special conditions which were mainly trade.

" _Finally…_ " He muttered, approaching the gates of Veldarah. "Ah great." There was a line of people from a chariot waiting to enter the city and the two guards were not fast enough. A short girl with long, flowing pale blue hair was standing in line right in front of him. The chariot passed and the people with it too. However, the short girl was halted by the guards.

"No, I am with them too." She tried to explain, a bit alarmed. One guard looked back at the disappearing chariot, which was obviously unwilling to wait for her, and turned back at the girl, amused by her lie. Both guards seemed to be laughing at the girl's misfortune and imminent punishment. Lars was quick to act, however.

"Excuse me, miss, but where from was that chariot?"

"Uh…" The girl didn't seem to understand Lars' cue but went with the flow and blurted out the first thing in mind "Ghalarah" Lars smirked.

"Ah, see, this is a misunderstanding." Lars said, looking at the guards. "I just left Ghalarah a few candle marks ago and there was no sign of any chariot preparing to leave." The girl seemed to get tense and the guards were not seeming to have any of it. "Were you, by any chance supposed to meet with the transport on the way?" He looked almost pleadingly at the girl. Her eyes flinched. She realized.

"Yes, yes I was. I was coming from Veldt and stumbled across this carriage and I assumed it was the one containing my products." She said, speaking quickly. "I guess I was wrong." She added, humbly.

"Well," Lars looked at the sky. "The curfew will start soon and I don't suppose you will be able to go back all the way to Veldt." He turned to the guards who were still unappalled. "I came here to trade potions and medicine but I am willing to share some with the lady since her products are obviously not arriving anytime soon." He added, showing the guards his bag. They scanned the bag, the young two and then looked at eachother, losing some of their skepticism along the way. They let them pass with a groan, reconciled with the fact that the girl is entering the city with business.

Lars and the girl both silently and humbly made their way to the inn, just as the sun was setting and the guards started roaming the streets of Veldarah.

Paying the innkeeper the fee, Lars grabbed the room key and got two drinks and headed for the table the girl was seated at. He sat down and gave her the drink silently.

"Thanks" She muttered, coldly. "And thanks for the help. From earlier."

"That was stupid to try." Lars shot, avoiding her apologetic gratitude. "You could have been in a lot of trouble if it wasn't for me now."

"Well, you could have been in a lot of trouble too, have those louts not have fallen for it." She shot back, with just as much intensity, her deep blue eyes shining. Lars looked at her and inhaled, settling his elbows on the table and tracing the edge of the mug with his finger and moving his gaze to the muddy looking liquid. Yeah, everything was hazardous.

"You're welcome." He said, not looking up from his drink. The silence was getting heavy. "So…"  
"Look," The girl cut him off "let's cut the formalities. I know a lot of things. I know who you are, Lars Tenobor, I've heard about you and I know what is happening in the world. I know how you… _failed…_ to do anything beneficial, you and your adventure group."

Lars' stomach twisted. He looked up at her in faint terror. She continued, "But I also know it was not your fault. Not yours, nor your friends'. I know you are trustworthy and most of all, **I know**... you are the last one-" The girl's voice cracked in a shiver. "…you are the last one able to save… everything. You are the last hope this world has." She said, in the most assertive voice Lars has heard in months.

She had her fists clutched on the table, looking into his eyes with such striking energy, he completely lost himself. Her intensity was refreshing. She was like the vat of cold water he sank his head in this morning, except she made his vision clearer, and not foggier. She made him see.

He tried his best to articulate some words.  
"Uh . B- b-.. um.. Can you at least-"  
"Aerith."  
"H-ha?"  
"Aerith is what you should call me. I am here to help; help you see that _there is life after death_."


	3. Two

**Two.  
** _I can't do this_

Lars had trouble taking in what the mysterious girl named Aerith just told him. She knew about him, his adventures, about Rhen and the others. _How did she know?_ And why did she want to help so badly? Obviously, she had something to gain from all this ordeal and he was no person to just up and trust some stranger with something so important.

He sat back in the creaky chair and took a sip from the muddy hot drink. Hot wine. Hmm. Lars looked deeply into his mug and traced the floating impurities with his gaze as the girl was hunched over the table, waiting patiently for a reply from him. This was stressful and sudden and she seemed to know him enough to not put any more pressure. He finally let out a conceding sigh, placed the mug back on the table and found the courage to look back up to the intense blue eyes. He let his arms drop and flop on the sides of the chair, shrugging his shoulders in an "I have no idea" manner.

"I… don't understand what you want from me." He said, traces of lack of confidence obviously lingering in the back of his throat. Aerith tilted her head to the right incredulously. "I am just one sorcerer, I cannot do anything. I don't know where my friends are, or if they are even alive anymore, for that matter. The guardians are all probably dead by now, as well as all of the druids-"

"Not all of the druids are gone." Aerith hurried to say with a smirk. "And you have to thank one of the guardians for that, who did a better job at guarding her druid than every other guardian." She chuckled half-heartedly. Lars widened his eyes in surprise, ignoring Aerith's reaction.

"What? Ahriman doesn't have all the druids captive?"  
Aerith shook her head no. Lars placed his elbows on the table and stroke his chin, whispering to himself, "Which guardian succeeded, I wonder…" He shot his head back up. "Marine! Daena! Daena is the one safe, isn't she?" He asked loudly and impatiently.

"Exactly." Aerith agreed, smiling subtly.

"Huh… I can't believe she did it. I always thought Oracle's plan with the guardians protecting the druids from Ahriman was stupid and will never pay off, but Marine of all the guardians, she actually did it." Lars remembered the frailest and youngest of the guardians with somewhat admiration and compassion. She and the guardian of Armaiti, Lillian, used to be the only ones to believe his theory. They were the only ones who didn't fall for Dameon's lies.

"You underestimate the guardians, Lars."

"They are just humans with some holy enhancing amulets, I never thought they would be capable to defend the shrines against something as powerful as daevas." He puffed with superiority.

"They are not 'just humans'. Do you think the Oracle would play luck games with choosing who would guard something as important and fundamental as the druids?"

"Yes, but the daevas are powerful demons-"

"The daevas are also humans." Aerith said firmly, frowning. "You are a magic user, you should know these things." She scolded him. Lars felt a bit shamed but cued her to continue with interest.  
"The daevas are humans possessed by the spirits of demons. Even Ahriman used to be a human, at some point. Nothing that is not of the living Earth can walk here for long, they need an organic vessel to survive out of the Underworld. Yes, they look demonic and unnatural, but they still have the features of creatures you are familiar with, right?" Lars nodded, never realizing the pattern. "The spirits of the daevas shape the human mold that has been chosen as the vessel in centuries after the possession takes place, they add features and power, taking away all humanity and memories of the vessel." Lars sighed, saddened. This is what happened to Rhen.

"Well, I guess said human is a goner, then." He added. "Wait, that can't be right." He said, frowning "I know a thing or two about necromancy and tying a demon spirit to a human doesn't last for long; human bodies cannot carry something as spiritually heavy and powerful as a demon soul, they start to decay and die of disease in a year or two." Lars looked at Aerith for confirmation as she smiled like a glad teacher at her student.

"That's true, human bodies are limited. Ahriman keeps these… _orbs_ hidden deeply in his lair, one for each daeva. They are the tangible links between the mortal body of the vessel and the spirit of the demon. The orb puts the vessel into a 'freeze' or 'invincible' –if you would like- stance. The vessel cannot die or age and the daeva can corrupt it as it may while walking the living Earth freely."

"Can they be turned back human?" Lars hurried to ask.  
Aerith gulped.  
"Yes, they can." Lars squinted gently at her visible signs of unease but kept listening attentively. "Smash those and the demon spirit is untied from the mortal body immediately. Or you could try powerful exorcism spells, but I don't know how well that could work."

Lars was almost overwhelmed with joy.

"So Kelloth... I mean Rhen…?"  
"Kelloth is a very powerful demon. Her transformation process would take **way** less than that of a ordinary daeva's and once invited in, is very hard to banish." Lars sat back once again, all the joy fading away. "However, yes, the mortal is still inside as the demon takes over, their memories and control are however, slowly being erased. They become… a blank canvas." Aerith sighed and Lars eyed her suspiciously once again. She was certainly troubled by this subject and he started getting serious doubts about her.

"I don't know who you are to know all these things. I don't know if you are trustworthy, but I have just one question: why are you so upset about it?" He shot, taking her by surprise. She got flustered and took her time thinking of an appropriate answer, taking numerous long sips from the already cold wine.

"I can win my trust. I will do whatever is necessary for you to trust me." She talked calmly, but her words seemed desperate. However, Lars was left unfazed.

"Don't dodge my question." He barked, putting his fist on the table top. The wine rippled gently on top inside the mugs. Aerith sobbed quietly and Lars immediately felt bad but didn't break his stare.

"I… I've had some encounters… I've been through terrible things." She said shivery, covering her eyes with a hand. "I want to help you!" She exclaimed, her jaw trembling. Lars softened a bit as she bent over and started searching for something inside her bag. She got back up and shoved a dark tube on the table, right in front of him. "I found this on the shore of the Southern Empire as I was coming here. Maybe it will give you some insight, I'm sure it's for you."

Lars eyed the tube and Aerith suspiciously as the girl crossed her arms defensively. He finally took the tube and unscrewed the lid. Sliding the rolled up paper out of it, he felt a foul smell sublimating from the inside of the tube; it smelled dry and suffocating. He opened the paper, taking a short glance at the expectant Aerith who sat still, and then started reading.

" _This is to_ _those who lost their lives in this millennial war. This is also to those who did not lose their lives but will, most certainly._

 _Dear world of Aia,_

 _It is me, the one who destroyed you. The one who took away the colour from your lands. The one who enslaved your people and the one who killed them slowly. I have made a poor decision; I just wanted to save my friends. "_

Lars started feeling his heartbeat up in his throat. He laid down the paper on the table, took a deep breath and started reading again.

" _Even now I can remember the moment I said "do it" and how my throat shivered, breaking my voice. I thought I was doing the right thing. But there was no right thing to do. I chose the selfish option, I chose to set my friends free and live my life as a royal slave in this stone castle underground. You may think I have it easy, living in ignorance of what is happening into the world, that the minions do all my bidding and that being called something followed by "the demon of destruction" is a great way to live life,_ _ **do you not, YOU INSOLENT AND LIMITED MORTA ?!**_ _…I DO know what is going on in the world."_

Lars covered his eyes with one hand and set the letter down once again. He could feel the tears build up in his eyes slowly. Rhen… She was still alive. She was still in this world. She was trying to fight back the process of corruption. Wiping his eyes subtly, Lars continued.

" _It has been one year. I am starting to forget my real name. I don't need so much sleep anymore so I am left with much more time to battle for my own sanity. I am forgetting myself. I have my real name plastered in notes all around my room, hidden in places for me to stumble upon them and remember._

I have very little hope left. I am desperate. I don't know who will get this. But I hope it gets into the hands of someone who knows what's happening. I cannot say anything more. Please…

 _Kelloth, the demon of_ _  
Rhen Darzon"_

He closed up the paper and put it back in the tube, closed it and placed it in his bag. Putting his elbows on the table, he put his head in his hands.

" _I can't do this._ " He said. "I can't save the world. I can't save anyone, I can't save Rhen…"

"Not alone." Aerith mumbled.

"What?" He asked, his head still in his hands.

"Don't you have someplace safe you should have gone to?" Aerith squinted, mysteriously. "Someplace someone told you to go to in case it all goes down?"

"Oh for the love of- Would you stop hinting at things and talking in riddles?" Lars looked up and yelled, irritated. "It feels like I am talking to-" He stopped in his tracks and widened his eyes. "Marine!"

Aerith put her chin in her palms and smiled at him sweetly.

"Marine, Daena's guardian… She once told me, _'If something happens, go to Dreamland'_. I told everyone about it but they didn't seem to believe me; nothing new, honestly." Lars trailed off.

"We should start there, you may be surprised." Aerith said, grabbing her bag and getting up from the chair. Lars stopped her, getting up and slamming his palms on the table, angrily, already fed up with the mystery this girl has been throwing at him ever since they met.  
"HOW! DO YOU KNOW?!" He yelled, getting the attention of the couple of people still in the inn at that hour. Aerith looked at him over the shoulder and kept smiling.

"I've been there recently."  
Well, at least she answered _one_ of his questions about her.


	4. Three

**Three  
** _Almost human_

After Aerith left to her room with a mysterious –but otherwise characteristic- snicker, Lars was left alone, to chew on his own thoughts. That was one of his favourite activities, albeit being tiring, so Lars decided to at least _try_ to get some sleep. When that failed, he used one of his potions to force himself. He figured he would need the rest since the next morning they left Veldarah with the purpose of going to Dreamland, as very ambiguously discussed the night before.

Lars has always been notorious for having trust issues, even way before the world has all gone to… a very crappy place. But this girl, Aerith, made him doubt his intuition like no one had before. She had an incredibly ominous aura, a somehow very imposing way of carrying herself regardless of her small frame. However, at the same time, she seemed alien towards certain _usually considered common sense_ human habits and seemed as if she was just getting accustomed with them, thing which Lars liked to call "childish innocence". He didn't know if everything was a charade and Aerith's greater motives were actually evil. To be frank, he didn't know anything about her while she seemed to know probably _way too much_ about him, fact which unsettled him.

He kept his guard up. Marine told him to go to Dreamland and she wouldn't tell him to go somewhere unsafe. That was his comfort thought.

Lars also noticed some weird behaviour coming from Aerith which included kneeling next to still waters, gently grazing their surface with her hand, humming and whispering to them. Them, the waters. **She was talking to the waters**. Even when he stopped to pick the dragon from his hideout, she disappeared and was found next to a water bank. She would do that for about five minutes then she would return as if nothing happened. At first he didn't question it, but that stopped happening when she returned from her ritual with a piece of information.

"We will have to be careful when we get to Mysten Far." Aerith said, wiping her wet palm on her clothes and returning from the ocean. Her clothes were wet up to her knees and even her long hair got a bit soaked at the tips. "There is a daeva guarding the statue portal thing… I think, I'm not sure. I can't pick it up well enough."

"Okay," Lars sat up from the cold sand and brushed the dust off his behind. "What the- what is the deal with that?" He inquired, crossing his arms.

"The deal? What deal?"

"The thing you have been doing! You are talking to actual liquid-" He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. "Listen… _Aerith_ , if you have any mental disabilities I will kindly request you not tag along on this journey." Aerith frowned and Lars decided he could not tell if she was offended or confused.

"I am perfectly fine!" Offended. "I am just using the water to pick up the vibrations from various places around the world."

Ah, that was it.

"What. _"Just"_?" She nodded quite calmly, raising her eyebrows as Lars looked as if he was ready to pop a vein. "Do you have any idea how many frequencies and sounds from _all around the world_ would sound mixed together if what you said was true?" Aerith snickered again.

"Of course I do, I actually hear them and feel them. Unlike you." Lars got even redder and she seemed to realise her saltiness wouldn't help her situation. "Look. This… this is my thing, the only thing I am good at doing. I can't use any magic and don't have any combat skills and I am practically defenseless. Be my ability lame or not, this is what I have, take it or leave it. "

Lars scrunched his teeth together, not enjoying or believing anything anymore so far.  
"So what do you want?"

"A deal. I can prove that what I am saying is real once we get to Mysten Far. If it is real, you at least _try_ to trust me."

"What if it's not?" Lars shot back, tapping his foot on the sand, still with his arms crossed.

"You can kill me." His eyes popped wide just in time to contrast her overall calm aura.

"Wow, hold on, what? Are you putting your life and my trust for you on the same level? Are you going to risk your life just like that?"

"I don't care. If dying means I will prove myself as a _moral human being who keeps her word_ , then so be it." Aerith said, all of a sudden becoming fierce and bringing tears to her eyes. "I don't have anything left to lose anyway." She added, softly, causing a knot to form in Lars' throat. A few moments of silence followed, where Aerith sniffed inaudibly and Lars was just a gear mechanism of emotions trying not to give in to any possible mind games.

Aerith suddenly extended her right hand out, making Lars flinch.

"Deal?" She asked. He thought for one millisecond and took her hand.

"Deal" He sealed the agreement, shaking her hand vigorously. But she didn't let go. Her lips curled slyly at the edges as Lars was becoming uncomfortable and considered yanking his hand from her surprisingly strong grip.

"For the record, because you care so much about how I value my life next to your trust, it only means you already trust me at least one tiny bit." Aerith giggled and let go of his hand, hopping on the sand towards the dragon, leaving Lars behind in his mix of confusion and anger. The gear mechanism of emotions that he was had just been broken. By Aerith. _Again._

* * *

Rhen made her way down the main stairs, adventuring once more out of her room. The short escapades were giving her horrible anxiety but Kelloth made sure to take over whenever she felt threatened. She felt like everything she was doing in that castle was somehow illegal. What a scam. She was promised supreme power but didn't realize that promise was from Kelloth and not her. _"Is there any difference anymore?"_ she found herself asking that lately.  
Swallowing back doubts and almost tears, Rhen descended into the catacombs.

"My mistress!" A neeverane gasped and bowed before Rhen. The girl slapped away the heavy fabric that was draped on her shoulders and turned to face the minion with a blank gaze.

"Out!" She barked at the neeverane. The creature bowed again and clutched the chain she was holding, nudging her guiding oolgun to follow her out of the hallway up the stairs. Once the door was slammed shut, Rhen let out a sob.

For the first time in more than a year, she came to visit the _hostages_. The guardians. _Her friends._ Each of them were put in separate cells divided by thick walls, unable to see eachother. She knew she didn't have time to spend on each of them so she just walked past each of the cells and gently caressed each of the guardians gently with her teary gaze as they looked at her in awe, some even getting up and grabbing the bars. Those who had the power to say anything did so as she passed by silently. She didn't have much time to spend here, so she tried her best to keep everything straightforward, looking for a certain cell.

"Ah…" That was David, Armaiti's guardian. He looked famished and thin, his characteristic bombastic attitude all gone. "wow." He said no more, fixed Rhen with his light blue eyes, pierced her with a bitter look and turned his back to her.

"How dare you show your face here? How dare you come here _now_ , _how dare you_?!" Lillian shrieked, grabbing the bars and shaking them with force, making incredibly loud metal noises that made Rhen jump. Rhen looked at Armaiti's guardian in fear and backed off one step as tears started streaming down her face. Lillian seemed to have kept her turbulent temperament, even "improving" it over the last year of being locked up.

"Rhen? Is it really you?" Rashnu's guardian approached the bars cautiously and sobbed loudly. "Please tell me it's you. Please tell me you are still there." Kia added, crying loudly. The guardian looked disgustingly tired, dark circles under her deep dark blue eyes staining her face down to the apples of her cheeks. She looked as if she spent a lot of time crying.

"It's not her! Rhen is no more! She is a _demon,_ _ **she is Kelloth now**_!" Lillian yelled back, shaking the bars even more in her rage.  
"I am not a demon…" Rhen said quietly, sobbing, feeling her heart rate go up.  
"YES YOU ARE!" Lillian spat back instantly.

"Lillian, shut up!" A male voice roared through the hallway, silencing the earth guardian. Rajah emerged from the shadows in his cell and approached the bars cautiously. He seemed healthier than everyone Rhen has seen so far, pretty similar to how she remembered him physically-speaking."Come closer" The dark skinned guardian calmly requested.

Still shaking, Rhen complied and approached the cell. She was trying her best to keep herself calm even if her heart was racing. She knew that would bring Kelloth out. Eithera's guardian analysed her with a penetrating look. She has never seen the merry-go-lucky Rajah so serious. She hesitated to come closer than a couple of feet from the outer corner of his cell, very much unaware that she was very close to his neighbour cell who was uninhabited at first glance.

"Why are you here?" He asked.

"I… I don't know… I wanted to speak to-" Rhen was cut short by an arm that extended through Rajah's neighbour cell and slapped her across the face sharply.

"Marine! What the hell!" Rajah yelled to the wall as Lillian was heard letting out a short "HA!" from her own cell.

Rhen took a few steps back and stumbled over her cape, falling on her behind. She placed a hand on her red cheek and looked at the cell she received the blow from with shock in her eyes. Marine stepped back to a safe distance behind her bars and watched Rhen expectantly. Or rather, _she watched Kelloth._

" **HOW DARE YOU?** **!** **"** Kelloth barked in multiple voices, her eyes going dark as she got up and grabbed the bars to Marine's cage. Everyone backed off in their own cages at the sound of the demonic voice. **" DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I AM CAPABLE OF DOING TO A LIMITED BEING SUCH AS YOU?"**

"Hi, Kelloth." Marine started, nonchalantly, a tint of fear visible in her cracking voice. "Unfortunate to have brought you out, but I had a slap promised for Rhen a couple of years ago."

At the sound of her name, Rhen's eyes went clear again. She remembered, back in Sedona. Marine promised her she would slap her with her own hand if anything bad happens because of her. Rhen let go of the bars and dropped her arms, exhaustedly. Everyone in the catacomb was still silent and cautious. Except Marine.

"Welcome back." She said, approaching the bars once more. "I hope that proves it to everyone that Rhen is still here with us, _Lillian._ " She added loudly and bitterly before returning her gaze to Rhen. "I suppose you are here to try to fix something."

"I… yeah. I guess. At least while I am still _almost human._ "

"Not gonna lie, would have been nice if you visited earlier, but I suppose it's better late than never." Marine said. Rhen held back a soft smile at her passive-aggressive affirmation. After all that has happened, Daena's guardian was still unchanged, let alone from the petite guardian looking a bit sicker than she remembered.

"So. Tell me everything you know." Marine rushed her. "We have no time to waste." Rhen took a minute to adjust herself and make a mental list of any information that could be of use.

"They –Ahriman and Dameon- don't really tell me a lot about anything they are doing yet. I think they know it takes a while for Kelloth to completely take over. But I've been wandering around this lair as much as I could. There's this room where they keep all the druids. They are all frozen into stone." Marine's heart dropped for a second.

"All of them?" Rajah stepped in, desperately, surprising Rhen.

"Er, not exactly. Daena is still free; they have been searching everywhere for her for the past year." Marine's eyes sparkled as she grinned a relieved smile and almost sobbed in excitement. Rhen returned an icy stare.

" **Where is she?"** She growled at Marine.

"I will probably never tell you. Not as long as that thing is inside, eating away on your being, I will not" The brown haired girl responded confidently as Rhen managed to keep in a potential upcoming outburst.

"Okay, then. What can I do?"

"One of us needs to get out of here and go meet the others, or find them if they are not already there."

"Already _where_?"

"I can't tell you that either. All you need to do is help whoever needs to go find Lars and the others. They will know where to go."

"… _find who?_ "

Marine stopped in her tracks, taken by surprise. "L-Lars…" she muttered. "Sorcerer, green hair, green eyes, quite a brat, fiery temper?" Rhen didn't give any emotion but just shrugged her shoulders. " _Oh my God…"_ Marine whispered. "Okay, nevermind, you will remember eventually. You will now need to find a way to get whoever goes out of here."

"And how exactly will I do that?"

"Do I need to think about everything myself? Figure it out! Find a hidden passage, boss the guards around, who cares? Everyone outside this room believes you are mostly Kelloth right now, use this power." Marine said, throwing her arms in the air impatiently. "And you should probably hurry with that because some of us can't really take this anymore." She whispered, motioning with her head towards the furthest cell. Rhen shook her head in confusion. "Samuel. He's not taking it too well, hasn't said a word ever since Vata first disappeared from his shrine. I am kind of scared he-…"

"What about the daevas, smartass?" Lillian yelled from her cell, cutting Marine off.

"What about them, _dumb_ ass?" Marine yelled back. "There's only five of them left."

"Um, actually, make that four." Rhen added.

"What?" Marine popped her head back to her in surprise. Rhen found the strength within her to smile a little.

"I secretly followed Dameon and Naghaithya sometime ago to this hidden room. It had seven pedestals each with a shiny orb on it; two were dark and foggy (supposedly Tawrich and Aesma, who were both killed long ago) and one was missing. My guess is that it was Indra's, Ahriman has been complaining about not being able to find her either." She paused, waiting for a clearer explanation from any of the guardians. "What does that mean?"

"It means…" Kia joined the conversation for the first time with an apparently relieved sob. "It means Indra has been stripped from her human vessel."

"Ha-HA!" Marine snorted.

* * *

Aerith jumped off the dragon and took a long look around what used to be Mysten Far. No priestesses, ruined shrines and destroyed statues. Lars followed her and adjusted his bag on his shoulder.

"I sure do start hoping what you said about the daeva being here was a lie." He said, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"Yep…" Aerith gulped.


	5. Four

**Four.**

 _I'm sick of being cold_

Lars and Aerith were at first reluctant to explore Mysten Far, treading lightly and moving slowly. The ruins were making them uneasy. According to Aerith, the buildings were in bad condition before, but they were not _ruins_ when she last visited. And most importantly, the priestesses were still there.

"Hold up." Aerith whispered. Lars stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. She motioned him to follow her subtly. He complied and they hid behind a half-fallen column, moving swiftly.

Two possessed guards passed clumsily. Lars was almost swallowing his breaths. He looked at Aerith, hoping to find some emotional stability in her, but she didn't look any less agitated.

She let out a soft, sharp gasp, covering her mouth instantly, as if to put it back in her mouth.

" _Agas."_ She mouthed towards Lars. He made an incredulous face and shook his head, moving her out of the way, gently.

Unfortunately, she was right. The blue armor shined in Lars' eyes from 10 meters away, making the flesh under his skin feel like needles. He watched the daeva stop briefly, turn towards the column they were hiding behind and then move on. Lars remained with his eyes fixed on the daeva who was getting further away from him with every heartbeat that he could feel in his throat.

" _Pst!"_ He heard Aerith whistle quietly and anxiously. She had moved on from behind the pillar and was now behind a mostly-fallen wall. She desperately motioned for Lars to come. He complied clumsily and Aerith shot him a penetrating gaze to remind him to remain grounded. Lars replied with a shrug, but proceeded to follow Aerith closely as she silently scampered the cracked earth, cutting Mysten Far in half.

Reaching the relative vicinity of the entrance to Dreamland, Lars let Aerith scout ahead and return to their hiding bush no later than 20 seconds after, visibly displeased.

"Two guards ahead. I don't want to kill them, but-"

Aerith's sentence was left unfinished inside her throat as a large hand grabbed her neck and pulled her forcefully out of the bristly bush. Lars' heart leapt as he heard her initial gurgle of surprise but within the fraction of a second where their gaze was united, he saw her eyes plead for him to stay silent.

"Who are you?" Agas roared at Aerith as he dropped her on the ground. Aerith coughed for several seconds, trying to regain feeling in her throat.  
 _"WHO. ARE. YOU?"_ Aerith looked up at his second roar, a glint in her eye. Lars was sweating bullets inside the bush, not knowing if he should move on and potentially let Aerith die, or risk his own life trying to save her. But just as he was grabbing his staff to leap out of the bush, Agas' figure tensed and he took a defensive pose.

"You…. How…. I thought… Everyone thought… In-" As Agas was blubbering nonsense, Aerith produced a sharp dagger from underneath her wide scarf, flashed at the demon clumsily and slit his throat messily, stumbling back and almost falling on her behind. She huffed for air for a few seconds as Agas' vessel made unearthly shrieks, a black veil of very thick mist gushing out of his throat and rising to the skies.  
Realising the noise will set up the minions nearby on their backs, Lars leapt out of the bush, grabbed Aerith's hand and shook her out of her shock, grabbing her in a desperate and messy run towards the statue. They pushed past the two beasts guarding the cliff -who were actually more concerned with Agas than the Dreamland intruders- and reached for the divine statue out of breath, being transported to Dreamland in a blink.

Aerith was the first one to step through the light and into Dreamland. But just as she fell to her knees to catch her breath, an arrow whistled through the air and cut cleanly through her upper left arm, remaining stuck inside her flesh midway. Lars came in after her, just in time to witness her hoarse yelp of surprise as she processed what happened and fell to her side tiredly.

" _Stay right there."_ A mysterious voice yelled at them from unknown safety. "I'm talkin' to you, mage human." He raised his hands up to show obedience.  
 _"Mage human?"_ Lars thought, the sound of that being all too familiar. He took a glance at the arrow through Aerith's arm, concerned about her and his eyes widened once he noticed the decoration in the arrow's end; red, black and white feathers. He heard a tension in the bow build up as it was stretched again.

"Who are you and why are you here?" The voice started again.  
"Te'ijal! Te'ijal it's me! Lars!" Silence. Lars didn't hear the bow string relax, but he heard rustling through the bushes and soon enough, Te'ijal walked out of them with two arrows on her bow, pointing at them. Upon coming into closer range, she cautiously lowered and relaxed the bow, letting her shoulders down happily.

"Oh, sorcerer! How we longed you should return to us!" Te'ijal spoke, finally, rushing to them to give Lars a well-awaited and unusual hug. Aerith grunted from the ground, holding the arrow through her arm, in an attempt to stop some bleeding. "Who is this one?" Te'ijal asked, her brow furrowing.

"She is a friend, we need to get her help!" Lars said, suddenly remembering Aerith's existence and rushing to put her healthy arm around his neck, picking her up on her feet. 

"Follow me" Te'ijal said, walking ahead of them and leaving Lars to limp with Aerith slowly behind.

"I'm sorry for this" Lars said, carrying half of Aerith's weight on his shoulders as she paced weakly beside him.  
"It's alright, if this is what it gets me trust, it's fine"  
"You put your life on the line to gain my trust, why do you care about your word so much?"  
"Let's say I did a lot of things in the past that I couldn't completely control, that might lead people today to not trust me. I want to fix all that, I want to fix my past mistakes, even if I die trying. And for that, I need people to trust me."

Aerith's words laid some heavy thoughts on Lars, but he didn't have time to dwell on it too much, as they soon arrived at Te'ijal's makeshift camp. Elini walked out of one of the poor shacks, followed by Galahad. Before any of them could get properly excited at the sight of Lars, Te'ijal cut them off, bossing them around to take care of Aerith.

The girl was sat on a bumpy wooden table made out of uneven logs, her sleeve was rolled up as far away from the wound as possible and Galahad, who was still the strongest person in the group, was put to do the dirty work; pulling the arrow out of Aerith's arm. Trying to keep the arrow as steady as possible, he snapped off the sharp tip of his wife's arrow. Albeit having both Elini and Te''ijal holding Aerith upright, she flinched in pain. Wasting no time to prepare her, Galahad proceeded to firmly and quckly pull the wooden remain of the arrow from Aerith's arm, dragging a lifeless and painful scream from the frail girl's throat. As her voice cracked in her scream, her voice trailed off and she fell limply in the women's arms, only to be laid back on the table.

As Lars saw her pass out, he puffed through his nose and nodded to himself, patting himself on the back for taking the decision of not pulling the arrow out of her as soon as it happened. He knew neither him or Te'ijal were strong enough to snap the arrow's head off as quickly as Ghalahad, let alone take the arrow out as cleanly. Carrying her with an even nastier wound and passed out all the way to the shelter would have been more work than it could be, and he was too goddamn exhausted after everything that happened that day.

He fixed up Aerith's wound with some herbal potions he had on him and bandaged her tightly. He let her sleep and exited the shack, eager to reunite with his friends. _The closest memories he had of Rhen._

Lars wondered if Rhen still thought of him. At least half as much as he did think of her.

"Sorcerer?" Galahad's deep voice woke him up, only then occurring to him he had been staring at the dirt in front of his three watches for a while now. "Who is the maiden?"

"I don't exactly know myself, I met her a few days ago in Veldarah. I know close to nothing about her, but she seems to know close to everything about us. _Well,_ the past version of ourselves, anyway"

" **Us?** " Elini spoke bitterly. Lars eyed her like an embarrassed kid looks at his scolding mom. The hot blooded woman seemed way quieter and snappier than before, but Lars didn't have the guts to ask where John is, knowing the state he was left last time he saw him.

Without having the energy to justify himself verbally, Lars took out the cylinder containing Rhen's letter from inside his robe and handed it to them, urging them to read it.

As expected, the letter was received incredulously, and Aerith was blamed to be fabricating everything and judged untrustworthy. Lars dodged every question with a newfound energy.

"How does she know all this about us?"

"I don't know, but she wants to help."

"How do you know she is not sent here by…?"

"I don't know!"

"How do you know this letter is actually from Rhen?" Lars' veins dilated under his skin.

" _I just goddamn know."_

" **Human! This girl is not pure!"** Te'ijal snapped, breaking her silence. The silence fell upon them like a thick mist. But Te'ijal had no temper for confusion coming from anyone and decided to further explain herself. "She is not human! She doesn't smell juicy and sweet like you and the southerner do. She smells foul, empty. Her blood is not pure!" There was when the vampire realised she had spilled the beans.

"Wife!" Ghalahad barked at her.

"I just dipped my finger in a bit of blood that she lost after the injury, it wasn't of any use to her- **I haven't had any blood in** _ **ages**_ **, husband**!" Sensing an incoming energy-draining quarrel between the two, Elini stepped in, interrupting it prematurely.

"What about her blood, vampire? What's wrong with it?"

"It's not pure; it's not sweet, it's not filling. I noticed it had a very odd burgundy colour, a very dark shade, but didn't regard that too much. Upon tasting it however, I wish I would have been quicker to stop my urge.

"It was. _Bland._ Tasting mostly like human blood, but very watered down. And the aftertaste put me off completely; it was slightly bitter"

Lars and Elini looked at eachother confused, not knowing how to take this information. They then eyed Galahad, waiting for an explanation, but the other vampire didn't seem to know any better.

"The only blood that's bitter is demon blood."

Lars' heart dropped. His only chance and motivation to keep looking for Rhen, it shattered. Aerith was a demon. A demon whose wounds he tended to less than half a candlemark ago. He felt rage build up inside him, along with sadness, desperation and several other negative emotions that soon just became a fumbled mess of confusion. He wanted to go and kill Aerith then and there. There was just so much suffering he could take.

"Does that _actually_ mean she is a demon?" Elini asked, breaking his trance momentarily.

" _I'm not"_ Aerith's soft voice spoke from the entrance to the shack, a few meters away from them. They all turned around to face her with their hearts in their undergarments.  
" _Not anymore"_ Her eyes were dull, she was obviously getting a fever and started blabbering without complete control over herself already. She looked in Elini's direction.

"Elini" She spoke. The veldtonian flinched ever so slightly. "I know you can summon demons."  
Elini didn't know whether to nod or not, since she wasn't sure what exactly was going on. "Please…"

Tears started streaming down Aerith's face as she started sobbing like a toddler.

"Please! Please don't call her back upon me!

 _I'm sick of being cold_ "


	6. Five

**Five.**

 _I've got nothing to lose, after all_

The only thing to be heard from the hidden camp tent within Dreamland were small wails and whimpers. They all came from the very sick Aerith who was now immobilised on the table, tied up with ropes, and also had Galahad watch over her. She didn't try to fight back, she just slept, woke up, cried in pain from the fever and requested water now and then.

"Listen, she might be a real threat, but isn't all this overkill? She seems to be in pain"

Lars didn't, in reality, say that out loud. He didn't dare. His pride, anger and fear were keeping him from sharing his compassion thoughts with his comrades. Said feelings, however, weren't able to counterbalance the amount of resentment he obviously felt for the poor girl.

"What, now you have a crush on her? Pathetic." Te'ijal pressed, noticing Lars staring longingly at Aerith once again. But Lars wasn't having none of it anymore.

"If you hate her so much, why don't you kill her now and get it over with?"

"I would, believe me, but I am way too scared of what might such an act release upon us."

"Because if she wasn't capable of releasing whatever, she wouldn't have released it upon us so far."

"Look, human, I do not completely know how demons work, but I know they are strong"  
"Not strong enough to break free from a bunch of ropes, however"

"Enough!" Elini stepped in, once again, breaking up the tension. "You seem too confused with yourself to claim either side, sorcerer, so I _insist_ you stop trying to argue. And you," Te'ijal left the tent, without giving Elini a chance to finish. The woman wasn't fazed, however, and turned back to Lars. "We have to make a decision."

"I say we leave her here to rot, if she is a demon, she shouldn't be worried about such matters." Galahad intervened. Both Elini and Lars looked at him in utter shock.

"She is suffering!" Lars started, his bias once again starting to show.

"Then stop her misery now!" The knight responded shortly.

"Why me?" Lars snapped offended. "Why do I always have to do the important decisions? I have bigger pressures on my shoulders! Like-" His words got bit by his teeth just as they were leaving his mouth, as a sharp slap across his face redirected his field of vision.

For the first time in forever, Elini lost her cool. Tears started gathering in the corners of her eyes as her grimacing chin fought back the painful throat knot. She got her face uncomfortably close to Lars' as he felt unable of any basic instinctual survival reaction under the authority of the Veldtonian.

"Now listen here, you little spoiled brat. I left my husband sick and alone in a village infested with plague. I had no choice but leave and hope for the best. I wrote there every day and never once got a reply until months ago, from the hospital, saying he had died in painful agony because of his injuries and disease. I've spent every day of our journey feeling his pain not twofold, not threefold, but tenfold. Because I cannot even begin to imagine what he must have gone through. And if there is one thing I plan not to do anymore, is not leave someone suffer to death again in this life. So count your blessings, stop crying like a baby and for once take responsibility because for some of us, such a decision is too painful to make. She is **your loot** , you make the decisions. You decided to bring her here, you decide her fate. Kill her, or heal her."

Lars started breathing again and inched his face away from Elini's. For an entire minute, he was petrified with fear. But that was one minute too long for Elini.

" _ **NOW**_ "

Fumbling, Lars grabbed a dagger available on a table and angrily jumped next to Aerith's side, hovering the blade above her neck and gritting his teeth in fake confidence. He took five seconds to gather courage and took a decision. The blade stopped under Aerith's chin, Lars' hands shivering on the handle of the blade as his breath got a bit too fast and loud. He looked in her eyes.

She started crying and azure droplets of salty tears rolled down the sides of her face as her very conscious stare fixed Lars'.

"You never really gave me a chance." She sobbed in a whispered tone of a desperate man

"We had a deal,

"I never did anything wrong,

"I never broke my side of the deal

"I never hurt you,

"But now you are ready to kill me.

"If you think this will bring you closer to your goal, by all means go ahead,

"Kill me"

Lars clenched his teeth even harder, proportional with his grip on the dagger handle as he felt his eyes get wetter too.

" _I've got nothing to lose, after all_

"I thought I potentially had your trust

"But it seems I never had that to begin with either"

The dagger dropped on the floor.

Lars slept twenty hours straight after casting a healing spell on Aerith.

Somewhere, deep within a dark realm, five druid guardians and five druids are mourning. The oldest of the guardians, a girl, has passed away. A girl whose depth of emotion was incomprehensible by anyone else, no matter their spiritual potency. Her lifeless, mortal body was preserved in magical amber to preserve and teach a lesson to the rest of the guardians. And her transparent coffin was cruelly planted before their cell room, to serve as an eternal reminder.

The tears are flowing, the bars are shaking and the wails are strong. The cruelty and anger of a young, future demonic ruler is evident but so much more apparent with this act.

However, her death is not in vain. For within the darkest room in that lair, lay seven pedestals.

And on two of them, orbs.

The rest? Shatters.

Rhen entered her private study with heavy steps. She locked the door behind her and sat at her desk gravely. More than anything, she was angry. No, that was the only emotion she could feel. And that is because she couldn't shed a tear. Squinting her graying eyes, she grabbed a piece of paper and began another letter.

 _Dear world of Aia,_

 _Today is a dark day. One of the guardians has had her demise. I am speaking of, of course, Kia, the water guardian. **WHAT A STUPID AND PUERILE**_

 _However, rest assured, upon her leave, she **HAD THE AUDACITY TO TAKE FOUR OF MY CHILDREN ALONG WITH HER AND** set them free from their eternal bind with evil. _

_I will now proceed to enumerate the demon_ _ **CASUALTIES SO FAR.**_

 _Tawrich.  
Aesma. _

_Agas._

 _Indra._

 _Nanghaithya._

 _ **ENOUGH WITH THIS, I HAVE NOT BECOME THE JOURNALIST FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD.**_

 _ **Kelloth..**_

 _Rhen Darzon_


End file.
